Fans have been wondering exactly how the G.I. Joe Collectors Club was going to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of G.I. Joe with their 2014 Convention Exclusive Joe Colton.

As it turns out, it’s less of an homage to his 50 year birthday, and more a direct homage to his first appearance in the Marvel Comics way back when. As an unabashed Real American Hero and Marvel Comics fan, I have zero problems with this.

I can see some of the 12″ fans finding some issues with it, but I am digging it. I would imagine they had to retool the head to fit the neck ball a bit better, and they made some changes to the coat as well, by the looks of things.

As a reminder, this figure will be available with a display stand and photo backdrop in the 12″ Convention Set. The G.I. Joe Collectors Club has mentioned that he will be available separately as well, though not with the same display stand and backdrop. Check out GIJoeCon.com for the full details, and the image is mirrored below (along with the comic reference sent out by GIJoeCon on Twitter).

Over on GIJoeCon.com the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has revealed the long-awaited Toxo-Viper from the 2014 G.I. Joe Convention set, and it… is…(to borrow a friend’s phrase) GLORIOUS.

Featuring a brand new removable helmet and some fantastic Pursuit of Cobra/30th Anniversary parts, this figure is simply spectacular. Great colors, awesome helmet design… Toxo perfection. He’ll look awesome next to the FSS Cesspool, but now we need some Sludge Vipers!

Check out GIJoeCon.com for the details and the image is mirrored below.

So considering the Toxo-Viper’s nickname as the “Leaky Suit Brigade” and the fact that the filecard reads:

“Needless to say, being a Toxo-Viper is not something a Cobra Trooper aspires to be. In fact, the assignment is meted out as punishment for major offenses.”

…says to me that today we might just get our first look at the Cobra Toxo-Viper. Will it be based on Version 1 or Version 2? It almost seems, with such a focus on the Eco Warriors, that Version 2 makes more sense. But I suspect that Version 1 is probably more in demand.

I think from purely a playability perspective I’d prefer Version 2. I’d be too worried that Version 1 would be a Hazard Viper repaint, and while that’s a neat enough figure, it’s not poseable at all and doesn’t have a whole lot of “fun factor”. Seeing as how I’m currently frantically rewriting my dio-story to include some elements of this Convention Set, I’d prefer having Cobra Troopers that are well articulated, playable, and fun. But we’ll see what happens!

Another notch in the E.C.O. Force belt was revealed today by the G.I. Joe Collectors Club! Along with the previously revealed Flint, today we get my personal childhood favorite ECO Warriors character, Ozone.

Unfortunately they elected to only show a helmeted image for now, as I’m really dying to see what his head sculpt looks like, but the parts choice is relatively solid. Color matching is pretty much dead on.

He looks to be using RoC Flash/Resolute Zartan arms, which is great, and PoC Snake Eyes legs, which is… not so great. Sure the lower legs show off a bit of an armored look, and perhaps I just don’t like them because they were attached to one of my least favorite figures in the PoC era. Tucked underneath there appears to be the torso from Retaliation “Ninja Duel” Snake Eyes as well. Whatever the case, the entire figure ends up looking really nice and really captures the original’s spirit well. That Retaliation Cobra Trooper webgear sets it off nicely, too.

Check out the figure at GIJoeCon.com and see the image mirrored below.

Yesterday the reveal of the 12″ uniform set left some folks excited, especially thinking about how that could translate to a 4″ Joe Colton figure, but today it looks like we’re back to the 4″ set whole hog, as the G.I. Joe Con Twitter account posted the following:

True to their word, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has revealed their latest 2014 G.I. Joe Convention exclusive, and it is the Steel Brigade Commander! As folks have suspected, it is based on the concept case version of the Gold Head Steel Brigade figure.

While the head looks a little bit more yellow than gold in the image, I would suspect the final version ends up being more gold than what we see here. Regardless, it’s good to see another figure, and considering this is now two figures with no new tooling, I suspect things will really start ramping up with the next few reveals.

Reports are coming in fast and hard about the fourth shipment of the GIJCC Figure Subscription Service! Fortunate folks over on HissTank.com have already reported receiving the latest shipment, and it looks like a great one. I won’t spoil the surprise here, but over on HISSTank.com there are already some great spoiler images.

The first half of the FSS 2.0 has been shipped to eager G.I. Joe fans everywhere, but for folks who don’t have a subscription, it’s been a “wait and see” game. For the first four figures (Shipwreck, Airtight, Skullbuster, and Wide Scope) that wait is over!

Check out the GIJoe Collectors Club Store right now to get your hands on the first four FSS 2.0 figure releases, now up for sale.

Sales of the second FSS will directly impact likelihood for a third, and hopefully these figures are deemed popular enough to warrant more to come. I’m hoping we might hear something about FSS 3.0 at the G.I. Joe convention in April.

While we’ve already seen a heavily Photoshopped image of the upcoming 2014 Membership figure, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club has now posted an image of the final production sample of the upcoming Cross Country figure. You can check out the image over on GIJoeClub.com!

You MUST be a member by March 16th in order to get this figure, and trust me, past years are selling for big bucks right now. It’s only $44 for the year, and it comes with the free figure, plus 12 issues of a really fun newsletter to boot.

Check out the Cross Country image below, and hit up GIJoeClub.com for the latest Club news and announcements.